Bayer MaterialScience LLC has expanded the application of its Baymedix(TM) CL 100, a lubricious surface treatment for medical devices, to include the inner lumens of catheter-based devices.

Bayer has demonstrated successful modification of the inner lumen surface of microcatheters with inner diameters (IDs) as small as 0.0157 inches.

Whether on the inner or outer surfaces of catheters and other devices, the application of Baymedix(TM) CL 100 provides a durable coating with a low coefficient of wet friction. Since the product’s launch in February 2010, it has garnered widespread interest among medical device manufacturers. Besides observing improved performance in developmental devices attributable to Baymedix(TM) CL 100, these companies see potential using the product to reduce material usage and assembly cost.

Bayer anticipates that the capability to coat narrow inner lumens will be attractive to cardiovascular and neurovascular device designers. According to Bentley Mah, senior market development specialist for Bayer MaterialScience LLC, “For a while now, medical device designers have had to rely on plastics like PTFE and polyethylene to reduce friction inside of catheters and similar devices. But several of our customers are looking to take performance to the next level, and this has been difficult to do until now.” In particular, coated lumens may improve the interaction between catheters and guidewires or enable new designs better suited to access distal vasculature.

Distinct from other lubricious and hydrophilic coatings, Baymedix(TM) CL 100 isdirectly grown onto the surface of the medical device rather than applied as a separate coating. This unconventional application technology, which uses a physical drying process, is part of why the Baymedix(TM) process can be applied to otherwise challenging surfaces like the inner diameters of long microcatheters.

The surface-grown nature of the coating also ensures the superb adhesion of the coating to its substrate. Jeff Motley, R&D manager for Bayer’s Medical Coatings Development Centre, explains, “The chemistry of the process ensures that wherever there is coating present, it is very strongly adhered by covalent bonds.” It also means an especially thin coating of only a few microns.

Baymedix(TM) CL 100 can be adapted to many substrates but is especially suitable for application to elastomeric materials such as polyether block amide (Pebax®), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and nylon. In laboratory studies devices coated with Baymedix(TM) CL 100 show a low coefficient of friction, and maintain this high lubricity through many stress cycles.

Bayer MaterialScience has several customers evaluating inner lumen coatings on their devices, and is seeking additional customer feedback on the concept. Bayer’s Medical Coatings Development Centre in Sheffield, England provides technical support and applications development for Baymedix(TM) CL 100 and other products in the Baymedix(TM) line of materials for medical devices.

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